Comcast Teams with HBO, Cinemax on Broadband Programming

If you're a Comcast customer and just can't get enough of The Sopranos, Entourage or a host of other programming from HBO and Cinemax, perhaps Comcast's On Demand Online partnership will satisfy your needs.

Communications and cable giant Comcast announced
a partnership with Time Warner television programming subsidiaries Home Box
Office and Cinemax, two subscription cable channels, to offer content
online for the first time. The HBO and Cinemax broadband services will be
available as part of Comcast's On Demand Online trial, accessible via
Comcast.net and Fancast.com. Comcast said On Demand Online, a free service,
would "significantly expand the number of programming choices available online
to Comcast cable customers."

The HBO and Cinemax broadband services will initially
provide a combined total of 750 hours a month of programming and will grow over
time, the company said. At launch, the HBO and Cinemax broadband services on
Comcast's On Demand Online will include hit HBO series' The Wire, Sex and the
City and The Sopranos and recent Hollywood blockbusters such as The Dark Knight,
Transformers and notable Tinseltown trainwrecks such as The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

"On the heels of the TV Everywhere agreement between Time
Warner and Comcast, we're pleased to be partnering with Comcast to deliver our
HBO and Cinemax broadband services on a national level," said HBO co-president
Eric Kessler. "The broadband services are the latest in a line of digital
offerings that have dramatically changed the viewing experience for our
subscribers, providing them with more access, choice and even greater value to
their subscriptions." Comcast said following the launch, HBO and Cinemax
programming would be updated frequently, with subscribers able to choose from a
number of programs in HD including HBO Films, series, documentaries, sports,
specials and comedy as well as theatrical films. Customers will be able to view
certain new programs online immediately after they air on television and will
have access to a library of past programming. Matt Bond, executive vice president of content acquisition
for Comcast, said this agreement is an important milestone in the company's
long-term strategy of enabling customers to watch popular television and movie
content when and where they want it. "HBO is an iconic brand with award winning
original programming and exclusive feature films and we are thrilled they are
joining us in our mission to make our services available online to our
customers," he said. "For the first time HBO and Cinemax customers around the
country will be able to watch their favorite shows and movies online at no
additional cost."

The HBO and Cinemax broadband services will be part of
Comcast's technical trial of On Demand Online with approximately 5,000
customers from across the United States in the coming weeks. The company said a major
focus of the trial is to test Comcast's new "authentication" technology, which
will allow Comcast customers to receive the same content online for free that
they subscribe to on TV. The service will utilize a log-on system for
streaming content and, in the future, would allow for download content to go. In a joint announcement last month, Time Warner and
Comcast introduced a set of principles called "TV Everywhere." Developed
by the two companies, the principles are designed to serve as a framework to
facilitate deployment of online television content in a way that is consumer
friendly, pro-competitive and at no additional cost to customers.

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.